# data[].attributes.body
The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to counsel in federal prosecutions. However, the right to counsel was not applied to state prosecutions for felony offenses until 1963 in Gideon v.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1972, in Argersinger v. Hamlin, the Supreme Court further extended the right to legal counsel to include any defendant charged with a crime punishable by imprisonment. Gideon v. Wainwright was part of the Supreme Court's innovative approach to criminal justice in the 1950s and 1960s.

# data[].attributes.body
A case in which the Court held that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a right of legal counsel to anyone accused of a crime.(1963) overturns Betts v. Brady and affirms that a fair trial is not possible without counsel for the defendant. Douglas v. California (1963) holds that an indigent defendant has an absolute right to appointed counsel in appealing a State criminal conviction.

# data[].attributes.body
who?The right to counsel refers to the right of a criminal defendant to have a lawyer assist in his defense, even if he cannot afford to pay for an attorney.
when ? If you are under investigation, under arrest, or facing charges, you have the right to rely on the advice of counsel and to have your attorney speak on your behalf.
where?Under Supreme Court case law,
why? defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford their own attorney would find it difficult, or even impossible, to exercise all those other fair trial rights the amendment recognizes.

# data[].attributes.body
the right of a criminal defendant to have a lawyer assist in his defense, even if he cannot afford to pay for an attorney.